Scale lifter



Oct. 28, 1952 c. E. A. OLOUGHLIN 2,615,195

SCALE LIFTER Filed July 24, 1946 3 She'c's-Sheet 1 .izvzmiar A25 armyOct. 28, 1952 c. E. A. OLOUGHLIN 2,615,195

SCALE LIFTER Filed July 24, 1946 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 frzverzior M5 WKW Oct.28, 1952 c. E. A. O'LOUGHLIN 2,615,195

SCALE LIFTER Filed July 24, 1946 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 JEzUeW/Zor Aiiarne gPatented Oct. 28, 1952 UNITED STATES FATE OFFICE 4 Claims.

This invention relates to a device for removin the scales from fish.Such devices or fish scalers have been commonly used but the same havehad several objectionable features. Many of the devices are soconstructed that they do not properly or efliciently engage and removethe scales and many of said previous devices when in operation scatterthe scales very widely.

It is an object of this invention to provide a simple and efficientstructure of fish sealer and one which will prevent the scales fromflying about.

It is a further object of the invention to provide a devic for scalingfish which operates to lift the scales and thus to efiiciently removethem and to keep the scales from being projected in various directions.

It is another object of the invention to provide a fish scalercomprising a plate preferably of elongated form and having spaced teethprojecting at one or both sides thereof, said teeth being offset so asto lie in a plane slightly below the plane in said plate together with ahandle secured to said plate.

It is also'an object of the invention to provide such a device as setforth in the preceding para-' graph, together with a second plate spacedabove said first mentioned plate and extending over said first mentionedplate and the teeth thereon.

It is more specifically an object of the invention to provide a fishsealer comprising a substantially horizontal plate having a blade ortooth-equipped blade formed therein and bent downwardly so that it canengage the scale of the fish, said plate also being equipped with orformed into a handle above said blade.

It is a further object of the invention to provide a fish sealercomprising a plate having a bottom horizontal portion, said plate havinga blade preferably formed with teeth out therefrom, said blade beingdepressed to have its edge below the plane of said plate, said bottom orhorizontal portion having its sides reversely bent upwardly in curvedform to lie above and space from said horizontal portion, said platethen extending upwardly to form a handle.

It is still another object of the invention to provide a simple andefficient method of constructing a fish scaler.

These and other objects and advantages of the invention will be fullyset forth in the following description made in connection with theaccompanying drawings in which lik reference characters refer to similarparts throughout the several views and in which:

Fig. 1 is a top plan View of the device;

Fig. 2 is a central longitudinal vertical section taken on line 2-2 ofFig. 1 in the direction indicated by the arrows;

Fig. 3 is a view in end elevation of the device as seen from the left ofFig. 1;

Fig. 4 is a transverse vertical section taken substantially on line 4-4of Fig. 1, as indicated by the arrows;

Fig. 5 is a bottom plan view of the device;

Fig. 6 is a top plan view of a modified form of the device;

Fig. 7 is a central longitudinal vertical section taken on line l-'! ofFig. 6 in the direction indicated by the arrows.

Fig. 8 is a view in front elevation as seen from the left of Fig. 6;

Fig. 9 is a bottom plan view of the device shown in Fig. 6;

Fig. 10 is a transverse vertical section taken on line l0l!l of Fig. 9,as indicated by the arrows;

Fig. 11 is a top plan view of a modified form of the device;

Fig. 12 is a view in side elevation of the same, a portion being shownin vertical section taken substantially on line I2l2 of Fig. 14, asindicated by the arrows;

Fig. 13 is a bottom plan view of said latter device;

Fig. 14 is a vertical section taken on line M l4 of Fig. 12, asindicated by the arrows; and

Fig. 15 is a bottom plan view showing a further modification.

Referring to the drawings, particularly Figs. 1 to 5, a fish scaler isshown comprising a plate [5. Plate l5 has a portion [5a which is shownas somewhat elongated and is disposed in substantially a horizontalplane. Portion [5a has spaced teeth l5b projecting at opposite sidesthereof and while these teeth might be variously formed, they are shownas somewhat rounded at their outer ends. The spaces between said teethare rounded at their inner ends and these preferably extend somewhatinto the sides of said teeth [5b so that said teeth are slightly reducedin width some distance from their fee ends. The teeth I5?) are offsetdownwardly so that their outer ends lie in a plane slightly below theplane of portion [5:1, as shown in Figs. 3 and 4. The inner ends ofteeth [51) incline upwardly toward the portion i561. The outer endportions of teeth I51) are sharpened by being beveled, as shown in Fig.4. As shown, plate I5 is reversely bent at one end and has a secondportion I50 spaced from portion I5a and extending substantially parallelthereto. Portion I50 is of greater width than portion I5a so that itextends beyond and over the teeth I51) and covers the same. Portion I5cmay be provided with spaced elongated raised portions I5d which arepressed upwardly therein. The rear end of portion I5a is bent upwardlyin a curve substantially at right angles and is then again bent at rightangles to be disposed beneath and in engagement with the rear end ofportion I5c. Portions I5a and I50 are connected at said point ofengagement in any suitable manner, as by the rivets I6. Portion I5c iscontinued rearwardly and extends upwardly and rearwardly and thenrearwardly and upwardly at a reduced angle to form a handle portion I5e.The edges of portion I5e are bent downwardly, as shown in Figs. 2 and 5.Preferably a central raised portion or rib IE9 of teeth I512. Thislifting motion separates the scales from the skin of the fish. Thescalesare thus not flexed or struck violently.and thus do not fly about. Thescales are not' projected in various directions as is common with fishscalersl Should the scales be projected upwardly in the liftingoperation, they strike the top portion 550 and are thus prevented fromflying upwardly or being projected upwardly any great distance. Thescales are thus confined largely within the device and along the surfaceof the fish. The device can be moved'in-opposite directions so that-theteeth on either side operate and the scaling of the fish is performedvery rapidly. The device does not tend to clog with scales and anyscales lodging between'the plate portions I5a and I5c can be readilydischarged by holding the teeth vertically and tapping the deviceagainst any surface or object. The handle I5e is formed to-becomfortably held in the hand. i

In Figs. 6 to 10 a modified form of the device is shown comprising aplate 25 having aportion a which is similar to portion I5a and has teeth2% projecting from each side thereof, which teeth are formed similarlyto teeth Nib-already described except that they are not reduced in widthadjacent their ends. Teeth 202) are also offset downwardly. so thattheir outer ends lie in a plane slightly below the portion 20a. Theinner ends of said teeth 2% incline upwardly toward plate a and theouter ends of teeth 201) are sharpened just as are the outer endes ofteeth I51). Plate 20 is reversely bent rather sharply at each end ofportion 20a to form a curved portion 250 spaced above portion 20a.Portion 280 is of greater width than portion 2M and teeth 26b so that itextends over and beyond said teeth 2% and covers the same. The ends ofplate 20 forming portions 200 are provided with tongues 20d of smallerwidth than portions 250 and these tonguespa-ss through a slot in the end20c of a handle portion 201. Tongues 2% are pressed downwardly on thetop of portion 256 so that said handle portion 256 is firmly clampedbetween tongues 20d and the plate portions 200. Handle 20f extendsupwardly and rearwardly for some distance and then upwardly andrearwardly at a reduced angle, as shown in Fig. '7. The edges of handleportion 20 are bent downwardly, as shown in Fig. '7. Handle portion 20fhas a hole 20g adjacent its outer end by means of which the device canbe hung on a support. Handle 20f is preferably provided with an upwardlypressed central rib 20h at its portion adjacent plate 200. The portion200 is also preferably provided with downwardly pressed indentations202' adjacent the corners thereof.

In operation the operator holds handle 20) in one hand and moves theportion 20a and teeth 2% along the fish lengthwise thereof, the devicemoving substantially at right angles to the sides of portions 20a and200. The scales will be engaged and lifted by teeth 20b and will beprevented from flying upwardly or being projected upwardly by plateportion 250. The scales are quickly and efiiciently removed and are notengaged so that they fiy about or are projected in various directions.

Referring to Figs. 11 to 15 a device is shown comprising a plate 24preferably formed of sheet metal, said plate having a bottom andsubstantially horizontal portion 24a. Portion 24ais substantially at thecenter of plate 24 and has cut therein at adjacent one side thereof aslot 24b. Slot 241) forms a blade portion 240 having a symmetricallycurved longitudinal front edge and side portions Md. The blade portion240 is depressed below the plane of portion 24a, as shown in Figs. 12and 14. Plate 24 at each side ofportion 24a is reversely bent in curvedand substantially cylindrical form to give the horizontal portions 24cdisposed above and spaced from portion 24a. The portion 24g at the rightof Fig. 14 which is the rear side of the device is bent downwardlysomewhat below the plane of portion 24w, as. shown in Fig. 14. From theportions 24c plate 25 extends upwardly in reversely curved form to forma handle 24) and has its edges overlapping at the top thereof andconnected in any suitable manner as by the spaced rivets 25. The portion2M adjacent its ends is provided with an upwardly pressed rib 2e71Beyond portions 24h the ends of portion 24a are provided with smallteeth 24f.

'In Fig 15 blade 2Ic is shown as provided with teeth 24g of curved form.

In use the device shown in Figs. 11 to .15 will be grasped bythe-handleZ4 and move along the side of the fish with the edge of blade ilcadvancing as the device moves in a line substantially perpendicular-toits longsides. The edge of blade 260 is preferably sharpened and as saiddepressed edge moves along the fish, said edge will engage under thescales and lift the. scales so that they will be removed as the deviceprogresses along the fish. The scales pass upwardly above portion Ma andbetween said portion and portions E ie. The scales can be easily removedby turning the device vertically and tapping it against any object orsurface. The scales then readily drop. out of the end. of the device. Inthe operation the scales are removed without any of them flying about orbeing projectedaway from the device. Any such movement of the scales isprevented by the adjacent parts of portion Me and as stated the liftedvscales move into the'scaler. The. scaling operation can thus be veryeasily and quickly performed. The. upwardly bent portions or ribs 24hadd stiffness to the ends of the. device. The.- teeth Elli at the endsof portion 24a are used to lift and remove the scales of the fish aboutthe gills. and head. Some small implement is desirable for working atsaid head and gill portions as well as working about some of the fins ofthe fish. The teeth 241 at the ends of the device are very efficient forsuch use. The bottom portion at the right, as shown in Fig. 14, which issome distance below the bottom portion 24a, rides on the side of thefish in the scaling operation so that the fish is engaged mostly by saidportion and the blade 240.

From the above description it will be seen that I have provided asimple, inexpensive and highly elficient device for sealing fish. Thescales are lifted, quickly removed from the fish and are not caused tofly about. The device is comfortable to hold and is very easilyoperated. The same can be very inexpensively made. It preferably will bemade of non-corrosive metal or will be plated with a non-corrosiveplating. The device has been amply demonstrated in actual practice,found to be very successful and eflicient and is being commerciallymade.

It will of course be understood that various changes may be made in theform, details, arrangement and proportions of the device and in thesteps and sequence of steps of the method without departing from thescope of applicants invention, which, generally stated, consists in amethod and device capable of carrying out the objects above set forth,such as disclosed and defined in the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. A device for scaling fish comprising a plate having spaced teethprojecting at the opposite side edges thereof and respectively extendingin opposite directions, said teeth being offset so as to lie in a planeslightly below the plane of said plate and inclining upwardly to theplane of said plate at their inner ends, a second plate spaced abovesaid plate and teeth and extending over the same, and a handle joiningsaid plates projecting from said device.

2. The structure set forth in claim 1, said teeth having somewhatrounded ends and having side portions of reduced width inwardly of theirfree ends.

3. A device for sealing fish comprising a plate having spaced teethprojecting at the opposite sides thereof, said teeth at said sidesextending respectively in opposite directions, a portion of said plateoverlying said teeth and spaced above the same, and a handle projectingfrom said device.

4. A device for scaling fish comprising a plate having a horizontalportion with spaced teeth projecting at .opposite sides thereof, saidteeth being offset to be disposed in a plane slightly below the plane ofsaid portion, a portion of said plate being disposed above and spacedfrom said first mentioned portion, said second portion being of greaterwidth than said first mentioned portion, and a handle projecting fromsaid second mentioned portion and joining thereto said first mentionedportion.

CHARLES E. A. OLOUGHLIN.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS

